VKX airport (Home of SuperAWOS) CLOSED

DC-3 airport closed after repeated security violations
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...03potomac.html

November 3, 2005

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has closed Potomac
Airfield, one of the so-called DC-3 airports located within the Flight
Restricted Zone (FRZ) surrounding Washington, D.C. Tuesday's closure
followed repeated violations of the security requirements placed on the
airport, the agency said.

"AOPA worked hard to get Potomac and the other DC-3 airports reopened
to general aviation with special security requirements after the 9/11
closings, and we want to see GA pilots continue to have access to the
capital area," said Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president of
government and technical affairs. "We've taken a careful look at the
circumstances of this closure, and it boils down to the airport manager
and the TSA coming to agreement on the way to resolve the issue."

The airport and pilots operating there are subject to special security
rules because of the field's location only 7 miles from the Capitol and
within the FRZ. With the immediate closure of the airport, a number of
aircraft were stranded.

TSA is working on a plan to allow those aircraft to be relocated while
it continues to work with Potomac Airfield management to resolve the
problems that led to the closure.

http://cessnaowner.org/viewforumtopic.asp?id=15176
http://piperowner.org/viewforumtopic.asp?id=51383


UPDATED November 3, 2005 - WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON WITH TSA's
CLOSURE OF POTOMAC AIRFIELD?
http://www.potomac-airfield.com/updated_november_3.htm

"Transportation Security Administration officials told the Experimental
Aircraft Association late Tuesday that closing Potomac Airfield had
nothing to do with any security threats."

So why did TSA close the Potomac Airfield, located near Washington DC,
if there was no threat?

Obvious to anyone who travels, many of TSA security "fixes" imposed on
the public and the private sector are ineffective and burdensome on the
private citizen.

One private citizen, David Wartofsky, a pilot approved by the
Administration to fly in Washington DC's most protected airspace, and
the owner of the small Potomac Airfield in Maryland, is finally picking
up the gauntlet, saying, "Enough is enough."

Recently, Wartofsky publicly challenged TSA's implementation of
airspace security policy.

TSA replied by using a poorly disguised 'security violation' to shut
down Wartofsky's business and to drive away his customers.

An insider at TSA this morning confirmed to Wartofsky that in fact, TSA
took this action in retaliation to Wartofsky's challenge, as an attempt
to silence him; by denying Wartofsky's more than 400 pilots from
continuing to use his airport. Every pilot operating from Potomac was
approved by TSA, Secret Service, and other interested agencies, many
with the highest security clearances in the country; including pilots
who fly blackhawks and F16's in the defense of the nation's capital.

Clearly TSA's action is an abuse of authority, and a violation of the
public trust.

At Wartofsky's request, Congress is now reviewing the statutory
authority under which TSA can interfere with private-sector security
programs. He has also asked the White House for clarification of prior
Executive Office decisions that re-opened this airspace to legitimate
travelers and pilots.

THE CHALLENGE

At the behest of the TSA, the FAA has proposed making permanent the
often questioned airspace 'Air Defense Identification Zone' (ADIZ)
around the nation's capital.

In his most recent widely read aviation newsletter, Wartofsky very
publicly identified shortcomings in TSA security policy implementation
in the national capital area, and offered more workable and more
effective alternatives to merely rubber stamping the current flawed
ADIZ program.

For political reasons, not for any real security concerns, TSA shut him
down.

Wartofsky points out, "TSA is merely setting up the private sector as
the fall-guy for ill-conceived Federal policy."

Wartofsky has been coordinating his private sector security program
with the agencies responsible for national capital area security, a
function TSA was supposed to be doing for the last three years.

"The only action taken by TSA in three years has been to retract the
last action TSA took three years ago."

THE BIG PICTURE

One private-citizen is challenging the authority of a Federal agency to
interfere with business decisions, to require federal sector
responsibilities to be funded and performed on the back of the private
sector, or to be compelled to confiscate nail clippers from good
Americans under the guise of national security.

Perhaps it is time somebody finally picked up that gauntlet.

www.potomac-airfield.com